Amanda Cadabra and The Strange Case of Lucy Penlowr Holly Bell (top 100 novels txt) 📖

‘Not to my knowledge. It’s in an area of the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and so under special protection. That much I do know. I’m not sure if anyone can ever own it. At least in spirit. They’ve found 5000 years of settlements. Tools reaching back to the dawn of recorded Cornish history, perhaps from even a million years ago.’

‘There must be legends associated with it,’ Amanda remarked hopefully.

‘The most spurious is probably the most popular. That this is where King Arthur’s Lady of the Lake resides.’

‘Ah. Do we have Tennyson to thank for that one?’

‘I believe so. There is another. That a nefarious man called Tregeagle, a Cornish Sisyphus, still pays out on a Mephistophelian bargain. Having sold his soul to the Devil, he is now condemned to empty the Pool using only a limpet shell with a hole in it. Hunted at night by hellhounds, naturally.’

‘The Bodmin version of Dartmoor’s Hound of the Baskervilles?’

‘Just so.’

At that moment, as they stood at the edge of Dozmary Pool, a narrow fan of ripples from near the centre crossed the surface of the water to Amanda’s feet.

‘Did you see that, Kyt?’

‘I did,’ he replied with a slight frown.

‘I thought ripples were always circular?’

‘Me too. Hm. Perhaps it’s the Old Storm Woman saying hello,’ he suggested lightly.

‘Well, that’s nice. I take it this pool is her home.’

‘She is the mermaid I mentioned and yes, she is said to live at the bottom of it, from where she brews the winds. Still, that odd fan of ripples is a first for me. But the Moor is a place of mystery. Anything could happen here. A very nasty curse was associated with it by a folklorist back in Victorian times.’

‘I think the Cardiubarns were responsible for most of those!’

‘With the Flamgoynes either tying for first place or coming a close second,’ replied Kyt ruefully. ‘Shall we stroll?’

‘Yes. Even the two houses look almost benign in this light. I actually don’t mind looking at them.’

Kyt took her across the tussocks of marram to a place about halfway between the mansions. To the west was Flamgoyne and to the east reared Cardiubarn Hall. Amanda felt the grass and moss beneath her feet, then …

‘Is this a stone?’

Kyt looked down at the ground where she’d stopped.

‘Yes, it appears like it. Not so unusual except ... this appears to have been shaped.’

Amanda walked forward. Here was another and another, buried in the greenery.

‘This is ....’

Suddenly it came, fast and furious. For the space of 20 seconds, she was there. The sharp acrid tang of smoke in her nostrils. Next, the heat and crackling sound above. A beam above her head, warping, splitting. The sound of explosions from the upper floors. Lights flying up past the window. Then the sight of people running in, running out, wands firing. Yells, bodies falling, onto the parquet, against the walls. Then she was on the stairs. There were scared faces on the flight above. Then a man. Tall, bearded, eyes of flame, coming out of a side door on the landing. Shouting, and then a burst of blazing light and he was ... gone.

Amanda collapsed on the ground, coughing from the smoke. The air around her was clear, the sky blue, the Moor calm. Kyt was there, kneeling beside her, supporting her.

‘Are you all right, Amanda?’

She regained her breath.

‘Oh yes, I ... I think so. I ... I don’t know.’

‘You saw something?’

‘Yes ... but I don’t understand what or why. It was like the dream I had in the car on the way here. How odd. To get such a vision on such a beautiful day.’

‘Do you want to tell me what you saw?’ Amanda nodded. ‘Here let’s sit near the Pool.’ He helped her towards the water. They sat, and she related the brief flashes that had presented themselves to her.

‘Hm, interesting,’ remarked Kyt. ‘Well, I suggest you tell your Uncle Mike.’

‘Yes. Yes, I shall. Oh, I’m feeling better now.’

‘Come on, then. Let’s go and get you a cup of tea and something to eat.’

‘I’d like that.’

‘Amanda. Don’t let Dozmary upset you. I’ve been telling you a lot of nonsense. I expect that’s what set it off. I know it can look gloomy. But today it’s a jewel, a sapphire set in the emerald moor. When you have dark memories of Cardiubarn Hall or disturbing visions, think of this, how you are seeing it in this moment.’

She smiled. ‘And with a kind friend too. Thank you, Kyt. I will.’

They stopped at a charming row of shops, one of which was the Twisting Current Tearooms. There, Amanda enjoyed, not just a cup of reviving tea, but a rare treat: scones and jam with dairy-free clotted cream.

‘Well, it’s not Cornish clotted, but I can say the recipe was invented here, my flower,’ said the lady serving.

‘And what a triumph!’ declared Amanda. ‘Thank you, Kyt. However, did you find this gem?’

‘A little research; the benefits of the interweb.’

‘Can we come here again?’ she asked hopefully.

‘As often as you like. Would you like to go home now?’

‘No, I’m fine, really.’

‘In that case, how about a tour of some the Trelawney estates?’

‘Sounds very grand.’

There was little walking involved. Most of the holiday cottages Kyt owned were occupied at this time of year, but Amanda enjoyed the views. Tempest remained enthroned throughout on the back seat, registering the presence of the occasional attractive feline female.

There was one chalet Kyt did not show Amanda. It was too soon. The cottage she had stayed in as a baby, with her grandparents, when summoned to Cardiubarn Hall for intermittent inspections by the clan matriarch was, admittedly, one of the prettiest. He’d